A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics
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A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics | |
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July 29, 2005Comments
The Vikings open training camp today. This could be the year. The loss of Moss will hurt, but the defense should be substantially improved. I predict 12-4. Posted by: Todd Pearson at July 29, 2005 01:59 PMI agree. Moss was a headache that they needed to get rid of. I'm hoping my Panthers can return to their form of two years ago...if only we could contain Michael Vick. Posted by: todd at July 29, 2005 02:04 PMI'm sure the rest of you football fans are sick to death of the Patriots. At least we can't play the dangerfield card anymore, that was getting old. We're the frontrunners again, but it's a weakened team. We lost both the offensive and defensive coordinators, and both starting inside linebackers. Ty Law is gone. There's a good chance that the offense carries more of the load than the defense this season. but the defense has arguably the best D-line in the league unless Seymour holds out into the regular season, which i don't expect to happen. I think they'll try to make him happy, as he is extremely talented, ahas been a model citizen forhis whole career, and has not conducted his battle in the media.
Odds to win '06 Super Bowl Indianapolis Colts 16.1 I took the Ravens at 23-1 a while back. Posted by: Scott at July 29, 2005 02:37 PMWe especially enjoy the role of haunting Payton Manning. I like the Patriots for one reason--the annual humiliation of Archie's oldest boy. Florida never allowed Peyton a win when he was at Tennessee, and we still can't help but root against him. I'm more excited about college than the NFL. The Jaguars are starting camp as well, but they are in the middle of threatening to leave town, so everyone's pretty much tuned them out. But, college football is fast approaching... Posted by: AR at July 29, 2005 02:49 PMThe Broncos at 2.7? I see the Denver fans still value optimism. Posted by: Tully at July 29, 2005 02:55 PMI'm posting from the Borders on Broadway in NYC. Wifi on vacation is harder than it looks, 'cause you don't know where is and isn't feasible. There was a free wifi spot at South Street Sea Port, a beautiful location to sit and look at old ships and the East River, but no good glare-free spot to sit; I couldn't see a thing. Oh, football? 'Horns all the way for the championship this year. Scott, how do you read these "odds"? Are these actually estimated probability expressed as a percent? So, say, 16.1 means that they are saying there's a 16.1% probability that the Colts win the Super Bowl.( For betting purposes of course...if the house is willing to pay off at say 23 to 1, they think the chances are really worse than that.) Mathematically speaking, true odds are always expressed as a ratio, either odds against or odds in favor. In sports, the odds being spoken off are "odds against." Posted by: bk at July 29, 2005 02:59 PMA new planet/planetoid has been discovered out past Pluto, joining Sedna in the list of trans-Plutonian solar system planet/planetoids. The new object is currently designated as 2003 EL61. Sadly, I'm sure the suggestion that it be named "Goofey" will ignored, as was the suggestion that Sedna be named "Mickey." Yes Brian, I converted them to percentages. 23-1 equates to about 4.2 (95.8 divided by 4.2). Posted by: Scott at July 29, 2005 03:15 PMBarring injury, Kyle Boller emerges into a solid starting QB this year. Mark my words. Posted by: Scott at July 29, 2005 03:19 PMAll others below 2.0In Phoenix we just say "Yea, the Cards suck!". Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your point of view) nine years in Denver made me a permanent Broncos fan. But I just haven't gotten myself to shell out for NFL ticket so I can watch them every weekend. (Fortunately in Phoenix were not stuck with the Cards every week, as long as they're at home we're blacked out and safe) Posted by: c3 at July 29, 2005 03:46 PM Me too, Chris. A decade in Denver either makes you a Broncos fan or turns you into a football hater. No middle ground. My second-biggest laugh from the list (other than finding the Broncos not part of the "field" bet this year) was seeing the Chiefs listed higher than the Broncos. There's some serious fan dreaming going on out there in the betting pools! Posted by: Tully at July 29, 2005 03:58 PMThe Cards are at 1.1 Posted by: Scott at July 29, 2005 04:04 PMThe Pats are going to be seriously weakened with the loss of Bruschi and Johnson. At some point, even the Pats can't recover from the loss of key people. I would bet against them winning again, simply because the probability of winning three playoff games for three years in a row seems small. This might be Pittsburg's year finally (unless Roethlisberger kills himself on his motorcycle). Posted by: MWS at July 29, 2005 04:37 PMYup, we'll see how much these losses hurt. The thing is, Bellichick invariably does a remarkable job of grooming replacements. The sleeper at inside LB is baby Klecko. So far, in Bellichick we trust, but maybe even he can't keep it up for ever. The Patriots have certainly one more far more than their fair share of close games, but how much of this is due to luck? At least some, to be sure. I actually think the season before last was the postseason where the Patriots were a little fortunate in the playoffs. In last year's playoff, they really dominated the Colts and Steelers. I like Indy better than the Steelers. Maybe Big Ben bounces right back from the playoff debacle, and maybe he has a bit of a sophomore jinx because Bellichick exposed a weakness and because Hines Ward sits out. Nothing against big Ben to be sure, but we've only seen one season, and the 2004 team played things conservatively and relied on a strong defense and solid running to control the game. Let's not call him the next Marino just yet. Lots of young qbs start out very well, but you have to wait and see how they are affected by a streak where their balls keep finding the wrong color jersey. So Tully I assume by your remark that although you've migrated to Kansas you've not become a fan of the Chefs! (Smart move) Only one thing worse, moving to California and becoming a ......RAIDERS FAN. That would require serious medication. Posted by: c3 at July 29, 2005 04:57 PMI guarantee - Guarantee!! - the Jets go all the way. J - E - T - S JetsJetsJets! Posted by: Literally Retarded at July 29, 2005 05:01 PMI'll root for the Chiefs, when they have a good season. Which means I don't have to root for them much. Posted by: Tully at July 29, 2005 05:09 PMPhotos of the new kittens. They are Sophia (the tigerstripe) and Grayson (the, uh, gray one). Posted by: Simon at July 29, 2005 05:54 PMLaw dot com discusses the sidelining by democrats of groups opposed to the nomination. At least one Democrat gets it: "Why do we have to fight? Just to fight?" asks one Democratic staffer. "Perhaps we should just declare victory and move on," he says, noting that Judge John Roberts Jr. is almost certainly better than other people whom Bush might have been expected to nominate, such as U.S. Court of Appeals Judges J. Michael Luttig and Janice Rogers Brown. "Do we have to follow Nan Aron off a cliff?"Posted by: Simon at July 29, 2005 05:56 PM The DC Bar Association looks over the Bankruptcy Reform law from earlier this year. Chairman Dean is trying to build a big tent, and joyfully, that includes talking to pro life democrats. Posted by: Simon at July 29, 2005 05:59 PMI'm curious of what everyone thinks of Dr. Frist's about-face on stem cell funding today? Over at RedState they have denounced him as a "traitor." Lol. Posted by: AR at July 29, 2005 11:24 PMROFLMAO, Abel. Hmm, prominent Senator up for re-election in 2006 starts making loud noises of centrism and distancing self from the party extremes...now where have we heard THAT lately? I'll say the same thing I've said elsewhere, and said this spring, and even said earlier this week. Frist is running to the middle. We're going to see lots more of this--on both sides--as the 2006 election cycle kicks in. They've paid their dues to the wings, the public is a bit pissed at the strident partisanship, now the ones that don't require the wings to get re-elected are "establishing their independence." Frist cost himself nothing. He knows the bill won't pass so his stance costs the GOP nothing either. Like Hillary, he's not dependent on the wings for his re-election, and he's already paid enough dues to keep them from revolting on him. Posted by: Tully at July 30, 2005 12:50 AMTully - Frist isn't running for re-election next year. For the Senate, at least - I'm still suspicious that he will attempt to "switch streams in mid horse" and cross over into the Tennessee governor's mansion. This is all part of his strategy to seek the presidency in '08. Posted by: Simon at July 30, 2005 11:39 AMYou're right, Simon--his term will be up, but he pledged to only serve two terms. Doesn't much affect the principle, though. Posted by: Tully at July 30, 2005 11:59 AMNow what surprises me is when the Republican leader in the senate goes against his base for a bill that already has decent bipartisan support (note house passage) it's big news. But when the Democratic leader (Reid) supports a bill giving liability protection for gun manufacturers, not something the Democratic base supports, it makes no news. Am I missing something here? Posted by: c3 at July 30, 2005 11:25 PMLR--Up here in New England we're absolutely quaking in our boots at the thought of facing Chad Pennington. At least if he's not back on the DL by the time we play each other. Seriously though, it'll be fun if you guys sign Ty Law, that'll make a nice story line twice this fall, ex-patriots against Bill the genius. How much do you think Curtis Martin has left in the tank? He seems to have a certain ageless grace to to him, but sooner or later every back loses that step and becomes just another guy. I expect Seymour will be back in the fold by opening day. And I expect the guy the team misses the most to be Charlie Weis, who is a brilliant play desgner with great feel for play-calling. Jets fans know gow good Weis is. I can't help but wonder whether college is the right place for a mastermind at designing and calling plays. We'll see. Posted by: bk at July 31, 2005 01:02 PM |
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